Analysis of cardiac and pulmonary injuries resulting from an experimental penetrating thoracic injury.

BACKGROUND This study was planned to analyze the internal and external anatomical findings of cardiac injuries and the presence of accompanying pulmonary injuries in intentionally inflicted thoracic injuries to swine models. METHODS We inflicted a penetrating heart injury in six suis domesticus female swine models. Two cardiac injuries, one on the left paratracheal of fourth intercostal space (ICS) and the other on the right side were inflicted on each model by the same researcher using a 20-cm long scalpel. All animals were then sacrificed for morphological evaluation. RESULTS After strikes to the left fourth ICS, external evaluation showed that 50% of the subjects suffered a single laceration and that 33% suffered multiple lacerations. Internal evaluation showed additional intracardiac injuries in all five subjects. However, the subject that suffered a single laceration on the outer surface of the heart had multiple internal injuries while another subject that had multiple outer lacerations had only one intracardiac injury. Only three subjects suffered cardiac injuries and only two out of those three with pulmonary injuries after right fourth intercostal intrusions. CONCLUSION This experiment has shown that external evaluation of the heart tissue may not alone be sufficient to determine the extent of cardiac injuries and accompanying pulmonary injuries caused by penetrating thoracic injuries.